San Diego events from Beer Week to Crew Classic to Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon are looking at big losses due to cuts in funds from Tourism Marketing District

San Diego Brewers Guild, Beer Week

San Diego events that help boost hotel revenue

Some key groups will not get tourism-related funds this year — here’s a look at their funding and room nights they generated for the 2012 fiscal year

Competitor Group: Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon

2012 funding $350,000

Room nights 54,410

San Diego Brewers Guild: Beer Week

2012 funding $74,900

Room nights 3,612

San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival

2012 funding $75,000

Room nights 6,125

San Diego Crew Classic

2012 funding: $215,000

Room nights: 9,218

San Diego Bowl Game Association

2012 funding $450,000

Room nights 36,393

California State Games

2012 funding $125,000

Room nights 28,877

Sunny weather, stunning beaches and area theme parks may be a big draw for visitors coming to San Diego, but so too are craft beer, college bowl games, regattas and a rock-’n’-roll-themed marathon.

While San Diego’s appeal as a tourist destination is well known, many of the city’s year-round events already familiar to locals still depend on aggressive marketing to entice out-of-towners to pay a visit.

That won’t be happening this year, the first time in several years that no marketing funds will be available to groups as diverse as the Craft Brewers Guild and San Diego Bowl Game Association, and organizers of the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival.

Together, about a dozen of the organizations that typically get a share of the city’s marketing money are credited with generating tens of thousands of hotel room nights over and above what would have normally been expected.

A sharp cutback in marketing funds that last week forced the city’s Tourism Authority to lay off nearly half its staff is also to blame for the lack of financial support for the smaller groups that help fill hotel rooms. All that is available this year are a few million dollars that will go to the tourism agency and a planning effort for the 2015 Balboa Park centennial celebration.

“We expect attendance will be negatively impacted this year because we don’t have the funds to tell people outside the market to

come to San Diego during a slow period of the year to enjoy our Beer Week,” said Chris Cramer, CEO of Karl Strauss Brewing. Last year, the November event was estimated to have generated more than 3,600 room nights over a 10-day period. “And it’s not only a negative impact on Beer Week, but also beer tourism that will be felt throughout this entire next year because we will not be able to do any promotion,” he said.

Each year, organizations compete for marketing moneys that are doled out by the city’s hotelier-run Tourism Marketing District.

At stake is nearly $30 million in funds the city collects via a 2 percent surcharge on hotel room bills. Much of the money, however, will be frozen this fiscal year because of pending litigation challenging the room levy. The funds are being released only as hotel owners submit signed indemnification agreements that would protect the city’s general fund in the event the assessment is overturned and refunds are requested. Most owners, however, have refused to sign the agreements, leaving the city with a fraction of the marketing money it’s accustomed to.

Here’s a look at some of the key groups that will be without funding for the 2013-14 fiscal year and the hotel nights they’ve generated based on audits conducted for the 2012 fiscal year.

2012 funding: $74,900 Room nights: 3,612

When the Brewers Guild initially got its funding, it agreed to stage the event in November because that time is typically slower for local hotels and other hospitality-related businesses. As San Diego’s craft beer scene has grown, along with the 10-day festival, so too has the number of people coming from outside San Diego for the event.

Despite Beer Week’s rising profile, advertising is still needed to promote the event throughout Southern California and also Arizona, said Cramer. Now that the money has been cut, it’s likely this year’s festival will draw mostly locals, he expects. In years past, the money has helped pay for radio spots, ads in magazines and online and the hiring of a public relations firm to promote Beer Week.

“Individual breweries are stepping up and making contributions so we can have a successful Beer Week, but it’s not like we have the ability to raise a lot of money to do that,” Cramer said.

2012 funding: $350,000

Room nights: 54,410

As well known as the June marathon has become, there’s no guarantee that the same participants from outside San Diego will return year after year to run through the city streets, says Scott Dickey, CEO of the Competitor Group, owner of the marathon series that is run in 32 cities.

“The key fact is only 20 percent of the field returns the following year because runners don’t typically run the same marathon year over year,” Dickey said, “so part of our challenge every year is we need to re-recruit four out of every five runners.”

Competitor Group quickly discovered the impact of no marketing dollars for this year’s race following a just-completed analysis prepared by San Diego State’s MBA program. With little money to spend on radio advertising and other media, participation by runners outside San Diego dropped 14 percent, compared to an overall 2 percent decline in runners. Worse, the total number of hotel stays fell 28 percent, Dickey said.

“There’s a lot of increased competition, and this is the No. 1 mass participatory sporting event in the city, so it’s challenging when that funding goes away.”

2012 funding: $75,000 Room nights: 6,125

The five-day festival, which showcases premier wine producers, chefs and culinary stars, has grown to the point where organizers hope attendance won’t fall despite the absence of marketing money. Out-of-town attendance, however, is quite another thing, said Michele Metter, co-producer of the 10-year-old event, typically held in November.

“We had grown to the point where we attracted 36 percent of our audience from outside the market, so without the funding, we’re going to have to shift our strategy and focus on locals,” Metter said. “This year we’ll do some billboards, and we’ll also do a banner program down Harbor Drive and through Market Street, and we’ll partner with local radio stations.

“Of course, it’s disappointing, but we’ve quickly regrouped.”

2012 funding: $215,000 Room nights: 9,218

Billed as one of the premier rowing events, the regatta has seen its team participation grow 20 percent over the past five years since San Diego’s marketing district began giving organizers marketing money, said Martha Shumaker, executive director of the Crew Classic.

Not only has the money helped with advertising the April event, but it also goes toward covering appearance fees to attract top collegiate crews, which helps make the event a bigger draw for those coming from outside San Diego.

To compensate for the cutback in funds, the Crew Classic organization is looking at the possibility of upping some of its fees and increasing its fundraising efforts. Shumaker said she plans to hire a fundraiser to assist her.

“We’re also hoping some of the cuts we make will help fund the collegiate stipends, although this is happening at a time when the colleges tell us this is costing them more and more,” she said. “It’s my hope that the residual effect of advertising will carry us through this year and there won’t be an impact.”

2012 funding: $450,000 Room nights: 36,393

Like the Crew Classic, the Bowl Game Association relies on the marketing funding to attract top-tier college teams that are key to drawing high attendance, especially from other cities. Taking place in December, the Holiday and Poinsettia Bowls are considered economic drivers for a time of year when visits to San Diego slow.

“The $450,000 we get certainly is important and helps make those major payouts, so without it, it will impact our budgets,” said Executive Director Bruce Binkowski. “It’ll hurt. I’ll have to do things like raise ticket prices, bring in additional sponsorships and cut our expenses. It does impact everything we do to put on the best bowl game we can.”

2012 funding: $125,000 Room nights: 28,877

Held earlier this month, the State Games are designed as a multisport festival of Olympic-style competition for amateur athletes of all ages and abilities. Because the organizers learned late that they would not be getting funds to help cover costs already incurred for marketing and recruitment of participants, they’ll be operating in the red this year, said Executive Director Sandi Hill.

“It was a major blow five weeks before the event,” she said. “We couldn’t change anything with that short notice. Next year, it could have a huge impact. we just have to figure out ways to make it work.”